Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

[22trophy]

Our top notch outboard mechanic here in San Dog, says, the average 2 stroke can last for 1500 hrs of salt water use. 3000 hrs of salt water use, is the best he's ever seen. <br />Whose got the longest lasting out board out there?<br />I'm at 500 hrs on a 99 Force 120hp, mfg by Merc.

 

[rabidfish]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

Most 2 strokes can last 1500 hours with proper care and maintenance, and by backing off the throttle just a bit.<br /><br />It all depends on how "long it takes" to get 1500 hours. It can be done in 63 days (at 24hrs a day). My guess is if you try to do it one hour a week, you'll never see 1500 weeks of use.<br /><br />In salt water, the life is shortened, but not for being worn out, but rather by being subjected to the elements. Lets face it... There are places on the engine you simply cannot flush out.<br /><br />I admit I do not know who has the longest lasting... But I would bet my bottom dollar your Force won't make 1000 hours.(not intended to run you down, just stating my experience) Force built some OK engines. By 1999, they were intended to be inexpensive, not "long lasting".

 

[22trophy]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

No offense taken, but I'll take the bet. <br />P.S. My Force has out lasted much newer Optimax's with less hours!

 

[gss036]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

Just do your maintence and use good oil.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

22trophy<br /> that force if you meticulously maintain it will go many years.<br /> that maint includes recirc system at least yearly, fuel pump rebuild at least everyother year, clean the fuel bowls yearly replave the water pump,t-stat and presure control maint items and replace the head gasket each 3rd season. keep it greased and the anodes sanded before each launch and change the gearcase oil every 100 hours or 6 months whichever comes first. after that its a matter of replacing the stator when it fails. Force was a decent engine, almost identical the the base chysler it was designed on, the mint on them is a bit more critical and the head gasket design is rather iffy, thats why rou replace it occasionally before it fails and takes out pistons,rods and cranks.<br /> after all that its how long will it go before corrosion eats threough the exhaust divider plate. my advice to new force owners was to remove,grease and reinstall all the fasteners for the head and covers one at a time once per year so when I needed to remove them they would come out.

 

[flatsfisher57]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

have a customer with a 2000 f80 yamaha does his maintance and only had two cam seals and a coil go bad just past the 8000 hr mark yes 8000 hrs runs 24/7 in the intercoastal water way partroling a residential area

 

[andy6374]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

I was told once..."With any new motor, get the OEM manual, get the torques, take out every bolt and coat with anti-seize grease". What do you guys think? Does "never-seize" on a bolt make for a good ground (as a side question).<br /><br /><br />I going to replace my head gaskets this winter, hope the bolts come out.<br /><br /><br />Also, what do you guys think about using some liquid gasket on the t-stat housing because mine leaks a bit (even when it is as tight as I can torque it) and as a result the # 1,2 spark plugs get a little corroded. What kind of liquid gasket is preferred?<br /><br />Jezzz, I stole this topic, sorry.

 

[burnboyy]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

Hmm 1500 hours? I have two 1971 motors and a 1956, I know my merc 9.8 has seen far more then 1500 hours of salt, then again when i took the exhaust cover off i snapped a bunch of bolts off, and the pitting of the corrosion is so bad on the exhuast cover i will have to formula 27 to fix. I don't think salt water really effects piston rings or reed valves etc. Cooling systems seem to be the most adversely effected components and are usually easily replaced. I also think that running a motor continuesly probably gives a longer life on cooling components because when you first shut down the motor is when water intake stops but there is still engine temp which evaportes some water leaving concentrated salt behind. If you ever notice when you shut down an outboard the last bit off water to **** out of the hose is always the warmest, sometimes even hot. Anyhow go heavy on the maintanance and easy on the throttles and 1500hrs is probably a very conservative number

 

[andy6374]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

Burnboyy-<br />The 1500 hours is not the total time the engine has before you use it as an anchor, but rather the time in between a teardown and rebuild. About your 71' and 56' motors. I would bet that they have been rebuilt once or twice. I can't really put a number on it because I haven't owned my engine since it's birth (88'), but based on how I use it, it probably has something like ~4000ish total hours. I'm guessing on the third rebuild based on the main jet oversize (+.006").

 

[DJ]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

I have a Merc. 75 (1998) that has about 1200 hours on a pontoon=hard use. It is propped to turn 5900@WOT.<br /><br />I also have a 1966 Evin 3 that has over 1000, if one, and runs great. It's even gone swimming-twice!<br /><br />Both are fresh water motors. Both have only seen dealer, or my service, and have had a steady diet of OEM oil.

 

[timmathis]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

It all depends on how you take care of them, stay on top of everything and you can have many hrs of run time. Let things go and so will it! Tim

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Life expectancy of a 2 stroke used in salt water

As a very rough rule with many exceptions:<br /><br />Smaller hp's( 30 and below) last longer than larger hp's.<br /><br />Two-stroke's last longer than four-strokes.<br /><br />Japanese engines(all brands) will routinely run around 3500 hours. <br /><br />U.S. built engines as short as 800, as long as 2000.<br /><br />But, everything is in a state of flux now. Improved designs and better manufacturing have made everything last longer. If your running in a commercial application, I would go Japanese. If your running for recreation, it's a toss up.<br /><br />The engine with the most hours I ever seen was a 1970 Chrysler 55 hp with somewhere around 4500 hours on it, with a lot of preventive maintance. The engine with the most hours and zero maintance was a Tohatsu 140, salty, with 4000 hours on it. Never did blow up, but it looked like crap at the end before the police dept retired it.